Anime/Manga Aficionado's Lounge! II

[1505627]

so, i've been reading through medaka box. I'm currently in the jet black wedding feast arc. Crashing fighter jets into rockets needs to be a more common part of marriage proposals

[Siriel]

So, apparently Cardfight!! Vanguard has a third season, which is currently about Aichi creating a Vanguard club at his new school.

I've watched like two minutes of episode 109, and apparently they're having problems finding a fifth member because:
1 - The student council is doing it's obligatory being jerks thing.
2 - To enter the club, you need to beat one of it's members.

...I repeat. To enter the club founded by the best player in the world, you need to beat one of it's members.

I BELIEVE I HAVE FOUND THE FLAW IN YOUR CUNNING PLAN, AICHI.


On the plus side, I do like his new, older look. And he's back to running Blasters, albeit the Gold Paladin version, so there's that. I suppose I'll take a closer look at the episodes that are out so far when I have the time.

[Siriel]

*Starting the third season from 105*

Hum...like I said, I like Aichi's new look.
Kind of sad that he still doesn't seem to have his confidence. I get that it's sort of embarassing to declare that "cardfight" as your hobby, but that doesn't really apply when you're the world champion.

Excellent tutorial for the first episode, as always.

Poor new guy. Resistance is futile. From the moment you started playing against Aichi at Vanguard, you abandoned all chances of not considering him to be cool. Especially since you didn't resist "Imagine it".

I laugh at him getting caught up in it and stealing Aichi's catchphrase though.

I must say, I have a pretty good feeling about this season.

[Siriel]

*Cardfight 106*

Okay, so there's an actual reason for the absurd requirement, and it wasn't Aichi's idea.

lol at Aichi acting like a cheerleader during the duel. You could never tell that he's the best player in the room.

Oh, hey, actual character development! This is definitely a step-up from season 2!

I really appreciate that it's acknowledged that Aichi and Kourin don't really give it their all for matches against beginners.

The new guy is just...a mix of ridiculously over the top and naive newcomer, yet he somehow manages to not be really annoying. I hope he gets just a bit more serious later on though. Still, given the choice between him and Kamui, I pick him.

EDIT:

Am now at episode 108. 107 was funny.

...I can't help but feel that we've kind of fallen in terms of antagonists though. Really? The Student Council President?
I do like that they acknowledge how ridiculously overinflated the Student Council's influence is in most anime and manga though.

President: "Put a stop to this card-whatever club, it is your duty as Vice-President."
VP: "Yes, sir!"
*Runs out of the room, then comes back*
VP: "By the way, sir...how am I supposed to stop them?"
President: "..."
VP: "..."
President: "I'm sure you can figure it out yourself."
VP: "Err..."

[Pong]

It's been a while I hope everyone is still alive.


Anyway, I started reading Rosario + Vampire, it's... ok. I can tell it has potential.

But man If you want to write a harem series? Sure no problem. But at least TRY to not make all the other girls so unsympathetic!

[blackpariah]

It's been a while I hope everyone is still alive.


Anyway, I started reading Rosario + Vampire, it's... ok. I can tell it has potential.

But man If you want to write a harem series? Sure no problem. But at least TRY to not make all the other girls so unsympathetic!

The girls can be somewhat stalkery at first, but they get better.
Once you get to the manga's second season, the harem stuff takes a secondary role and the characters all start becoming spoilers:

badass fighters trying to take down Fairy Tale.

end of spoilers

[Len Ikari145]

It's been a while I hope everyone is still alive.


Anyway, I started reading Rosario + Vampire, it's... ok. I can tell it has potential.

But man If you want to write a harem series? Sure no problem. But at least TRY to not make all the other girls so unsympathetic!

Once you get past initial impressions, they become quite endearing characters(Kurumu especially).

[Pong]

The girls can be somewhat stalkery at first, but they get better.

Somewhat seems a bit of understatement seeing how Kurumu tried to enslave tsukune to spite Moka and when that failed to kill both of them.

... And then Tsukune forgive her because "lol she doesn't seem like a bad girl!" facepalm

It's no surprise the characters get better, they have nowhere to go but up!

Once you get to the manga's second season, the harem stuff takes a secondary role and the characters all start becoming spoilers:

badass fighters trying to take down Fairy Tale.

end of spoilers

Well now at least I have something to look forward to.

[Siriel]

Caught up with the third season of Vanguard!!

Thoughts thus far:

Definitely like it better than the second season. Though I am annoyed that they had Aichi spoilers:

lose to Misaki again.

end of spoilers

It suffers from the same thing as Season 2, in that it's villain is...well, lame. Student Council President cannot compare to AwesomeSmug Psyqualia Ren. However, we're only five episodes in, so the fact that there's a villain at all means that it's going faster than the other seasons and I remain optimistic that a more credible threat will appear once they secure their club's existence.

I do enjoy that they're acknowledging that Aichi isn't a nobody anymore in the world of Cardfight!! Vanguard, but I kind of feel that they're understating the part where he's the national and international champion. You'd think that casual players who meet him would have a bit more of a reaction to that.

Kamui is getting his first duel of the season next episode, since he's (finally!) gotten kicked out of the main character roster. I hope he loses.

The new main characters aren't bad, though they seem pretty cardboard cut-out so far. I'll give them a chance to establish themselves more before deciding if I like them or not.

The duels really go by fast this season. This is definitely not a season meant for newcomers, given that they explain the rules the first time they show up and then never mention them again. (Which is fine, given that that's how the game is played in real life too.)
The downside is that there's less tension, but they've been fairly good at managing that so far.

My biggest problem with this season is that they're overusing special effects. Sure, animating the monsters is a given, but Season 1 saved it's special effects from human characters for important moments, and even then they were usually small things unless Psyqualia was involved. Here there's just fire and lightning and other stuff all over the place. (Amusingly, Aichi has yet to display any special effects that I can think of.)

Aside from that, my only complaint is that the cards are blatantly overpowered, but that's just to make sure we keep buying the real world cards to keep up with the metagame so it's not something I can hold against the anime itself.

Conclusion: I doubt Season 3 will reach the same height as the second half of Season 1 did with the Psyqualia storyline, but at least it appears that the show has successfully emerged from the Pit of Disappointment that was Season 2.

[KingofPie]

Toriko 223: Like I thought. The Nitro are murderizing the chefs. And, uh. Holy shit, Grinpatch.

[Dark Soul # 7]

Beelzebub 193: Kanzaki gets chumped out again... or did he? It is once again on in a manner resembling DONKEY KONG!

I like that the gang are actually coordinating their moves properly for once.

And the poltergeists are a creepy bunch indeed.

[Nik Hasta]

Beelzebub 193: Kanzaki gets chumped out again... or did he? It is once again on in a manner resembling DONKEY KONG!

I like that the gang are actually coordinating their moves properly for once.

And the poltergeists are a creepy bunch indeed.

This was cool chapter.

spoilers:

Nasu: Moo hoo hoo. All our members have demon contracts from a single demon. What now beeyotch? Oga: Funny you should say that... >:)

end of spoilers

[Pong]

Beelzebub: Nasubi is creepier by the chapter.

And Kanzaki will at last get to be awesome.

It's kind of weird that the contractor was revealed so quickly though.

[Hazard]

So, apparently Cardfight!! Vanguard has a third season, which is currently about Aichi creating a Vanguard club at his new school.

I've watched like two minutes of episode 109, and apparently they're having problems finding a fifth member because:
1 - The student council is doing it's obligatory being jerks thing.
2 - To enter the club, you need to beat one of it's members.

...I repeat. To enter the club founded by the best player in the world, you need to beat one of it's members.

I BELIEVE I HAVE FOUND THE FLAW IN YOUR CUNNING PLAN, AICHI.


On the plus side, I do like his new, older look. And he's back to running Blasters, albeit the Gold Paladin version, so there's that. I suppose I'll take a closer look at the episodes that are out so far when I have the time.

I got to say this and your others post on the season have got me a bit interested. Not sure if it will be as good as the first season, but might as well give it a try.

As someone that hasn't watched the second season (time/lack of interest) is there anything in particular I need to know? Any episode of it I should watch or something like that?



Saint Seiya Omega:


Okay so theme hole fixed. Kouga was sadly not born from darkness and meteors. He was just a baby that got caught in the whole thing and got infected by darkness. Lame. Still doesn't answer why all the other bad guys with darkness don't go all berserk and change skin color though.

Medaka Box

Paradox!

And someone may not be all that dead... and someone's father... maybe...

[Dark Soul # 7]

Nanatsu no Taizai 16:

A nice little breather chapter with some foreshadowing and an ominous ending.

I liked seeing the cast just hanging out together. Ban being astonished by Hork, Diane and Elizabeth's talk and the casual partying. It was sweet.